«Breeze, R. (2012). Rethinking Academic Writing Pedagogy for the European University. Amsterdam: Rodopi»

Abstract

Breeze, R. (2012). Academic Writing Pedagogy for the European University. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 180 pages. ISBN 9789042035201The book Rethinking Academic Writing Pedagogy for the European University captures the importance of being able to write well in English and the relative difficulty of teaching people to do so. For university students in 21st century Europe, the author says, to write well in English is a necessity rather than merely a useful ancillary skill (Breeze, 2012: 3). English is used by most professions as the lingua franca for training, meetings, publications and written correspondence. Aware of the globalization of professional practices, European universities have tried to change with the times and increase the role accorded to English. One of the consequences of increasing the role of L2 education has been the emergence of English as a language of higher education in countries that have never been part of the inner circle of English speaking- countries. In addition, challenges have arisen when pressures from the job market have forced universities to update their curricula and devote more resources to language learning. Consequently, differences in institutional responses have changed the English-learning map and more than often European students have been provided with distinct L2 teaching approaches.This book provides a sound revision of how the teaching of writing has often been subsumed into the teaching of (general) English even to the point to be partially neglected into communicative classroom practices. Interesting for its practical, explanatory understanding of what writing instruction should be in the classroom practice, Breeze's book discusses the problematic consequences that pedagogic heterogeneity has caused. It also provides useful insights into the many creative ways in which teachers of academic writing had responded to the challenges of the new situation and the innovative approaches to teaching writing that were being developed in universities across the world (Breeze, 2012: 2).From an organizational point of view, the book consists of an introduction and ten chapters primarily devoted to stimulate discussion about two important issues: the first being creative new ventures that exploit the latest technological advances and the second being recent advances from empirical research on the way real writers face the challenge of composing text in a second language.Chapter 1 (Writing in English across Europe) opens debate exploring the current situation in European universities with a view toward students, their needs and the demands placed on them. It critically evaluates the support that is being provided and discusses the strengths and witnesses of European students as L2 writers. Chapter 2 (Academic writing in Europe: texts, contexts, cultures) sets out to define the role of academic writing in English in the context of universities across Europe. For Breeze, contextualizing the L2 teaching and learning process is critical as models of writing in US, British or Australian universities may not be necessarily transferrable to their European counterparts. Language issues and cultural factors have an effect on the way writing is being taught, making it discipline-specific and subject to divergent education and academic cultures. Chapter 3 (Classic approaches to teaching writing), in conjunction with chapter 4, explains the current mainstream writing pedagogy which informs the way students are taught to write in L2 classes. It not only focuses on identifying existing methodological approaches in second language instruction but also analyses the way in which teachers scaffold the learning experience and discusses the role of (effective) feedback in this particular type of instruction. Following this train of thought, chapter 4 (Classic pedagogy in second language contexts) devotes effort to examine the way in which L2 instruction has changed with the times. …